The Volnus Conspiracy
by Dark2Ganny
Summary: (Crossover between five different series.) A group of five people, calling themselves Volnus, have risen to the top and have become the best of the best among criminals. Making huge hits, and staying so elusive, they've become the talk of the galaxy. Now, as several different groups of people come together and cross paths, they all get caught up in Volnus' plot and chaos ensues.
1. Prologue I - Static

**Prologue I – Static**

"Howdy partners!"

The volume of the television was turned high so that everyone aboard the ship drifting through space could hear.

"It's time for another installment of Big Shot!"

A man wearing cowboy attire announced this excitedly.

"Today we have a very large bounty on our hands! In fact, several large bounties, and this group of varmints are wanted as a collective group! Who are we talking about, Judy?"

A woman, dressed scantily clad in similar attire to the man beside her, put on a huge smile and stole the show.

"Well, Punch, this collective bounty is for a five-man band of daring thieves! They have been pillaging a popular chain of restaurants and are even reported to be keeping a rare alien specimen hostage!"

"And these wrong-doers have been at large for over a year without so much as a photo for their identity. How much is this illusive group going for?"

"These thieves, nicknamed 'Volnus' are wanted for a whopping five-million woolongs! That's a million woolongs per thief, Punch!"

A woman on the ship, watching the show with a bored expression up until now, bolted up at the sound of such a large bounty. The other members on the ship now surrounded her at a worn-out couch facing the television.

"F-five-million?" a large man repeated in disbelief.

"But not so much as a clue to their identity, I don't think there's much of a chance we'll catch them." a thin man added.

"What restaurant are they targeting? They could have at least told us that!" the woman complained.

The Bebop crew decided not to pursue these thieves any further. For now.


	2. Prologue II - Where Do We Begin, Baby

**Prologue II – Where Do We Begin, Baby**

Somewhere in the deepest reaches of space, a hunk of junk drifted lazily through the darkness. This hunk of junk was considered a ship by the people who lived inside of it, and to them it was home.

Within this ship, a man was combing his pompadour while wasting the day away lying around. "Hey, Meow, bring me some food real quick will ya'?" the man asked a simple favor of a feline-like creature grooming himself in a corner. At that time, a small, yellow robot rolled into the room.

"We don't have any food on board, Dandy. We spent the last of our money fixing up the ship at the last stop." the robot informed the man named Dandy.

These three, the inhabitants of a floating piece of junk, could not manage money very well. "Damn, you gotta be kidding me!" Dandy complained.

"And there's been no reports of any strange aliens in this area, so we may go without food for a while. At this rate, anyway."

Dandy ceased to comb his pompadour, and sat up straight, glaring at the feline he called Meow. Meow locked eyes back with him.

"What's that look -?"

Before Meow could finish his sentence, the comb Dandy was using flew straight into his face.

"Can't you do that stuff in private!?"

The robot sighed and rolled his way to the controls of the ship. It was about this time he noticed something peculiar in the seat Dandy usually sat in.

"Ooh! Dandy, you have a coupon for Boobies over here. It's only one free meal, but we should be able to ration it out."

"Yeah!" Dandy agreed, without really listening to what his robotic buddy, QT, was saying. "Full speed ahead to Boobies, baby!"

Little did these three know what awaited them at this particular Boobies.


	3. Prologue III - Stampeding

**Prologue III – Stampeding**

A glass of whiskey was placed before a young man. He takes a sip and lets out a deep sigh.

The older man beside him lights a cigar. The smoke dissipates into the air.

"Did you hear?" the older man said aloud to neither the younger man or the bartender in particular. "That crazy monster has left the planet."

"Crazy monster?" the bartender parroted while cleaning a shot glass. The older man nodded.

"That guy with the crazy-high bounty that caused so much trouble around here. I heard he packed up his stuff and is going to hunt something down up in space. Guess whatever it is must be pretty important."

"This 'crazy monster' you're talking about couldn't possibly be..."

"Yup, Vash the Stampede."

The younger man and the bartender were noticeably shocked at the older man's story.

"So..."

The older man smirked, "We don't have to worry about him anymore."

In celebration of Vash the Stampede no longer being one of their worries...

The three men shared a few drinks, on the house.


	4. Prologue IV - The Bounties are Bountiful

**Prologue IV – Bounties are Bountiful This Season, Sir**

"A lot of new bounties have been showing up lately." a gruff voice stated. The owner of the voice ran a small building on some random planet that handled taking in bounties. The only reason this branch got any business was due to the lack of other places to take bounties for a light-year at best.

"Sir, there's someone here to meet you." the man's young assistant said, cracking the door to the office slightly.

The man nodded, "Send 'em in. Thank you, Tracey."

A young woman entered the office, dressed in formal attire and carrying a tape recorder.

"Ah, the woman here for the interview?"

The woman smiled lightly, "Yes, my name is Linda. If you have a moment, Sir, I'd like to talk about this surplus of bounties in recent weeks."

Before Linda had finished her sentence, she was already recording the conversation on the tape recorder. She left it on the man's desk and took a seat across from him.

"Well the bulk of it is because of that new group headed by five mysterious figures, that Volnus or whatever they called themselves. We've had plenty of wannabees sent in claiming to be part of the group, but there's no way to tell if they are or not, to be honest. We take them in anyway, but these phonies tend to be radicals who basically worship this group. We know for a fact that there are only five of that group and they don't have anyone working for them. Ah, we just found that out recently though so now we also know for a fact those fakers are indeed fakers."

"Any large bounties, Volnus aside?"

Taking a deep breath, the man took a cigar from his desk drawer and lit it. After puffing out a ring of smoke, he nodded slowly. "Yeah, recently we've been informed of a large bounty from a planet quite some distance away from our jurisdiction. A man flying in by the name of 'Rash' or something along those lines. 'Human Typhoon' they called him."

"And what about the gentleman thief?"

Puffing out another ring of smoke, the man swiveled his chair to face the window. Glancing across the dusty surface of the planet of which he resided, he responded honestly to the reporter.

"Ah, that man who descended from a famous thief of a long time ago, huh? Long enough to be a legend, in fact. Yeah, some officer on that case recently informed us of him too. Seems he has also entered our jurisdiction. It's all a huge mess actually."

Even though he was speaking as if everything he had said up to this point was a pain in the neck, the man couldn't help but chuckle.

"But did you hear about that odd duo?"

Linda tilted her head curiously, "Odd duo, Sir?"

"Yeah, those two. They're also thieves, you know. They've been flying around these parts, drifting on other people's ships, and wearing goofy outfits. We don't have an official bounty on them yet, but reports of these two have dated back longer than expected. 'Course, I don't know all the facts about that bull, but some people in the business are spreading rumors those two might be immortal."

"That's impossible, Sir." Linda laughed. The man also laughed.

"Yes, impossible. But you know... Stranger things have happened, Linda."

There was a brief moment of silence. Another ring of smoke entered the air and quickly dissipated. The man swiveled his chair back around to face the young reporter. And his final words on the matter...

"Stranger things have happened."


	5. Prologue V - Setting the Stage

**Prologue V – Setting the Stage**

A glorious room.

A room that left the residents feeling as if they were living in luxury.

It was a room suitable for a king.

However, this room belonged to a group of people who acquired it in the most dubious of ways.

This room belonged to thieves.

It was a little hard to believe that a rag-tag group of thieves would be able to steal an entire room, but for it to be in the middle of a city and still no one was suspicious of them.

This was the group that had dubbed themselves 'Volnus'.

It was quite the achievement, to not even have a photo of them flying around. They were humble thieves, and didn't like to gloat about their success. It started with just two members, but the other three soon found their way in after proving to be the best of the best. Over the course of several years they started making headlines and took the galaxy by storm.

Despite the fame growing for several years, it was only a few months ago they gave themselves a name. Spray-painted on a window of a police station, no less. Their new name is already commonplace on the news.

"This is incredible! Can you believe what we've been able to do, Brother!"

"Ah, Sister, it is indeed the most incredible sensation I have ever felt."

The brother-sister duo that founded the group gloated among themselves. Scratch what I said about them being humble, they are simply...

Cautious.

"And we can reach even higher!"

"Nothing is impossible, Sister. Is that not right, fellow thieves?"

The brother turned to the three other members. Laughing filled the room. Soon the members were downing booze and celebrating amongst themselves. Making cracks about the police force, and bragging about who did what in the operation to capture their rare alien specimen, which was kept in a cage in the brother's bedroom, as he was the self-appointed leader. No one would really argue that, though.

"And soon, my friends, we're starting an operation on such a large scale, we'll blow every thief in the history of thieving out of the water! We'll begin a new age!"

"Ohhh, sounds incredible, Brother!"

The brother laughed wholeheartedly.

"We are the elite! We are the masters! We are..."

All five members chipped in,

"VOLNUS!"


	6. Life Is A Wild Ride, Baby

**Chapter 1 – Life is a Wild Ride, Baby**

"Like I said, we gotta ration out this food, it's our only meal until we can catch something!"

"Then just let me eat it. We'll catch something soon, I promise, but I'm starving!"

Amidst the two people fighting, a robot let out a sigh.

"Listen here, cat, I earned this free meal ticket by being a loyal to Boobies, if you want a free meal, then you can go earn your own!"

"Well, if you're going to make promises, at least tell me you have a target in mind before you proceed to starve me to death."

The robot finally spoke up, "Dandy was thinking about getting that rare alien that was stolen from some facility."

"Yeah, it's gotta be worth a ton of woolongs!" Dandy chimed in.

"But isn't that thing with the most elusive group of criminals ever? I can't really take that as a guarantee. So hand over some of that food!" Meow demanded.

"Dandy, just give him some of your food, we really don't have any leads on this thing, or anything else right now for that matter."

Dandy sighed in defeat, "Whatever QT, how hard can it be to track this thing down?"

"The probability of finding the thieves ourselves is one in three billion, not even the best of the best on the police force have any clue about them whatsoever. They're perfect criminals."

During these three's exchange, a waitress came to set a glass of water on the table. As she walked away, Dandy gave her a passing glance from behind, not even listening to the second half of whatever QT was saying.

"Listen! Why don't we try to find something easier to catch first. I really doubt we're gonna find wherever this rare specimen is being kept."

"Hey, QT. Check out the babe over there." Dandy, still ignoring his robot friend, pointed across the restaurant at a woman sitting alone.

While Dandy was distracting himself, Meow stole some of his food for himself. QT, being irritated about getting ignored, decided not to warn Dandy. Now munching down, Meow tried to get Dandy's attention, "Hey man, let's go back to the ship and listen to what QT's saying, huh?"

Meanwhile, the woman sitting alone was growling into a headset of some sort. Of course, Dandy and the gang being quite some distance away couldn't really tell this.

But the woman was definitely irritated.

"Hey, Ed, are you sure one of them is going to be here?"

"Yup, yup, yup!" came the response, "I'm absolutely, entirely positive that someone from Volnus is on lunch break here!"

The woman still had doubts though. As great as her friend was at gathering information, the world was positive there wasn't any on Volnus. But it didn't hurt to try.

Dandy, Meow, and QT were just about to leave Boobies. They passed by the table of the lone woman, and only vaguely heard the mention of Volnus. Interested as they may be, though, they continued to stroll on out and head for their ship.

However, right before they left, a loud sound rang through the building. The sound was followed by screams and the sound of people ducking under tables, then a man shouting. The sound was undoubtedly a gunshot.

"Alright you little punks, this place belongs to Volnus now!" the man shouted and fired another shot into the ceiling. Everyone silenced themselves as the man held the gun at his waist and started to walk about the restaurant.

"So that guy is part of the elusive group?" Dandy asked aloud, though quiet, as he peaked around the corner.

Meow was the one to reply, "Not very elusive, is he?"

As Meow said this, a bullet grazed one of his ears. The feline creature, now frozen in fear, stared in the direction from which the bullet came from.

"You over there, get on the floor! I'll kill ya' without hesitation, I swear!" the man claiming to be a member of Volnus threatened. Dandy, Meow, and QT slowly moved away from their corner and his underneath a table, as most of the patrons were doing.

The table they hid under happened to be next to the lone woman from earlier, as well.

"Damn, it's just another imposter." the woman hissed under her breath.

"Hey old man!"

"..."

"Hey, you! Get on the floor before I blow your goddamn brains out!"

"..."

The fake Volnus member was pointing his gun at the back of another man's head. The man was wearing a raggedy, brown coat and had a hat sitting next to his meal on the table. He didn't seem too concerned about the gun being pointed at him, but that was because virtually everyone looking at him was only seeing him from behind.

In reality, this man was scared out of his wits, but he put up a brave front, slowly calculating.

The man did, after all, have a pistol equipped to his thigh. The question came down to whether or not he was confident enough to draw it, or if he'd be able to draw it faster than the criminal behind him could pull the trigger.

In the end, the man slumped down on the floor, taking his hat with him and concealing the pistol under his coat. After situating himself under the table, the criminal scoffed and turned away to look at the other patrons crouching under their tables.

"All clear!" the criminal shouted, and soon three people exited a back room carrying bags of cash and goods. The criminal laughed and ran over to his partners to check the loot they had obtained.

The man with the old coat pulled out his pistol and quietly aimed it towards the criminals.

"Hey, boss, look out!" a portly member of the gang called out, pointing towards the man with the pistol. The criminal who started it all quickly turned on his heel and aimed his gun where his partner pointed. Soon, all the criminals had guns pulled out and were aiming it in that direction.

The man with the pistol broke out in a cold sweat. Acting quickly, he turned the table above him over and used it as a shield as bullets were now flying towards him.

"You aren't really Volnus, anyone who's been paying attention would know that!" the man shouted to try and throw off the criminals.

"Ha, so you caught me," the criminal said nonchalantly and with no hint of surprise, "The name is Alex Roller, old man."

"Well, Alex Roller..." the man dragged out his words, trying to stall for time, and also trying to catch the criminals off-guard, "You're..."

The man jumped out from behind the table and began firing at the criminals, "Under arrest!" Bullets began flying back and forth as the man was charging for his next place of cover.

"So, you're a cop, are you old man?"

"Inspector Zenigata, currently working with the bounty division on the case of Volnus."

While all this commotion was going on, Dandy whispered to his friends, "Hey, while that's going on we can slip outta here."

It was true they were very close to the exit where they were, but QT and Meow were too scared to move at the moment.

However, the woman beside them had already moved under tables multiple times. Instead of planning an escape, though, she seemed to be inching towards the criminals.

"Whoa, is she planning to take them on?" Meow asked in disbelief.

"I guess so."

"That's crazy!" QT exclaimed.

Dandy and Meow hushed the robot in unison.

More bullets and gun smoke filled the air.

The woman was now under a counter, mere feet away from the criminals.

The following happened in the blink of an eye.

The woman had made her way close enough to the criminals to jump out and kick the portly one in the back of the head. The man dropped to the floor, his gun sliding under a table some distance away. She then took another criminal in a headlock and aimed his gun at the Alex Roller's last partner. The partner aimed back at the woman showing no mercy for his comrade, and Inspector Zenigata got closer and aimed at Alex Roller, who in turn aimed back at Zenigata.

And the scene froze there.

"Drop the guns." Zenigata commanded. Alex Roller clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on the gun in his possession. While Roller was focused on Zenigata, the woman pulled the trigger of the gun she had in her grip, sending a bullet straight through the partner's shoulder causing him to drop his gun. Then the woman proceeded to knock out the guy in her headlock and take the gun for herself, aiming it at Alex Roller.

"D-damn..." Roller swore.

Zenigata had a huge smirk on his face as he spoke to the woman, "Thank you, Miss. You've been a huge help."

"No problem." the woman responded.

Zenigata looked back at Roller, and signaled him to drop the gun. Roller was hesitant at first, but he loosened his grip and let the gun fall to the floor as he put his arms in the air.

The patrons, waitresses, cooks, everyone in the restaurant stood up and cheered for the two who had taken down the dangerous criminals. Dandy, Meow, and QT let out a sigh of relief as they quietly slipped out.

"I don't think I caught your name." Zenigata sad to the woman.

"Faye," was the woman's response. "Just a bounty hunter."

"Then help me get this guy to a station or something and I'll give you a reward for your assistance."

"Sounds great."

–

Dandy and the gang had boarded their ship, slightly disappointed by the day's events.

"Guess it was just an imposter after all."

"Had to have been. They didn't match the description of Volnus at all, they definitely don't act as openly as that guy did."

"So what now?"

"Guess we'll go figure out something to hunt down. We did use the only meal ticket I had. Any leads, QT?"

"None."

Dandy slumped into his seat and moaned in irritation.

–

On the Bebop ship, after Faye had received her reward.

"I hope you're planning to share that. We're kinda running empty around here." a tall, thin man jabbed as Faye stepped on board.

"No way, Spike. I got this money through my own hard work, it's mine."

"Figures."

"So what now?" a larger man asked the crew. "Ed?"

The girl named Ed was surfing through her computer on new leads. "We could always head to the next Boobies!" she giggled. "Volnus mostly targets Boobies."

"So we'll head to the next one. Sound good, Jet?" Faye asked the larger man.

"It shouldn't be too far from here. Hey, maybe we'll run into another imposter and make a little pocket cash off them again."

"In that case, I'm going in next." Spike announced.

–

Back at the Boobies where the shoot-out had just occurred. Two girls were talking to the manager of the particular venue.

"We'll need a report on all the damages here before we can help you, you know."

"Yes, yes." the manager responded to the smaller of the two girls. The other girl was as tall as a building in comparison. "Most of the damage was done to the tables, luckily, but they did beat up some of our kitchen supplies. I'll get someone on inventory as well to make sure we still have everything after they were caught."

While this conversation was going on, a waitress was attending to a customer who had just walked in. Even after seeing the aftermath of the earlier chaos, this person still sat down at an open table and a waitress nervously took his order.

This person, with blonde, spiky hair and a red coat looked over all the damage and soon spotted an old man, the manager, talking to a couple of girls. He recognized them immediately.

"Hey, it's the insurance girls!" he called out across the restaurant. "Yoohoo!"

The smaller of the two girls nearly winced at hearing this person's voice. "N-no way..." she muttered as she turned around and saw the owner of the voice.

"Oh, hey Vash!" the larger of the two girls called back.

–

"Sir, Alex Roller was recently brought in to a nearby station. They want to know if we have any room here to hold on to him for now."

"Roller? Yeah, we're actually dry over here, plenty of room in the cells if he needs a place to stay until they find a permanent situation. Give them the okay, Tracey, thank you."

"Will do, Sir."

The man who was simply called "Sir" by his assistant smirked.

"I get the feeling... something big is cooking."


	7. Raising the Curtains

**Chapter 2 – Raising the Curtains**

"Vash! What the hell are you doing way out here?" Meryl Stryfe yelled at Vash the Stampede. Her friend, Milly Thompson, was glad to see their old acquaintance as she greeted him with a warm smile.

Vash scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously, "Aha, it's a long story, but there's something I'm looking for."

"Oh, and what might that be?" Meryl asked, her tone full with doubt.

"No need to sound like that, I'm being honest here, I really am looking for something out here."

"Did you lose something, Mr. Vash?" Milly asked. Vash shook his head.

After thinking about it for a minute, he elaborated. "Not so much as lost something, but discovered something I need to find. I know it's definitely somewhere around these parts."

"I should have known..." Meryl muttered, balling her hand into a fist, "Everywhere we find trouble, you're not too far behind."

"Whoa, whoa! Hold on! I didn't do this; in fact, I got here after this damage was done! Promise!" Vash was defending himself like a five-year-old would in the situation.

This conversation continued on casually. However, the manager of the establishment had slipped away to make a phone-call. Of course he would, after hearing the name of a possible bounty just casually sitting around his restaurant. Enough damage had been done by crazy criminals as it was, and this new guy was most likely the Humanoid Typhoon that was just getting posters put up in nearby areas.

"It's been nice catching up with you ladies, but I need to get back to my search."

Before the girls could say anything, Vash was already on his way out the exit. Meryl and Milly exchanged glances, shrugged, and went back to their business.

"Um, Sir?" Meryl voiced her confusion as the manager was nowhere in sight. A few moments later, he walked out of the kitchen.

"Ah, sorry. Had to make a quick phone call. Now, where were we?"

–

The Boobies that the Bebop crew was heading to now was very close to a busy city. Docking at the restaurant, Faye took her own ship, the Red Tail, and was heading down to the city. She told the crew it was for recon, but everyone knew she was just going to blow off the cash she had received for aiding in the capture of Alex Roller.

"Well, forget her. Just focus on the mission at hand." Jet reminded Spike, who was casually strolling off the Bebop and into Boobies.

"You don't have to tell me twice. Ed, tell me if anything Volnus-like is going on while I'm in there."

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Ed responded, saluting Spike as he left.

–

In a bustling shopping mall, where flashing neon signs were plastered everywhere, and people broke out into fights inside shops having sales. Even in this day and age, humans were humans. Hell, even aliens were like humans.

It was here that a young girl, looking to be about thirteen, was wandering by herself. Nobody really questioned what this child was doing all by herself, since she had an air about her that made it seem as if she knew what she were doing anyway.

This girl was, in truth, a bounty. A bounty worth one million woolongs.

This girl was a member of Volnus.

It may be hard to believe that a mere child is a member of a five-man band of incredible thieves and has yet to leave any trail behind her, but perhaps that absurdity is one of the reasons she remains elusive. Among her peers, she simply went by the name "Cherry". Her blonde hair was tied into two pig tails that were similar in shape to a drill.

She was scanning the mall with her cat-like emerald eyes. This mall was to be Volnus' next target.

The leader had explained it earlier, "We're gonna make a huge scene at the mall, preferably by manipulating some of those hungry customers down there for the sales. It'll catch the attention of the people in the nearby Boobies, and other shops for that matter, making our true targets that much easier! So, Cherry, I want you to scout out the area for us first. We're sending you with a couple of explosives and a smoke bomb. Use them wisely, and remember!"

_Don't get caught! _

Cherry plastered a huge smiler on her face and bit down on the collar of her denim shrug to stop from squealing.

_'The boss is going to be so proud of me after this operation!' _she thought excitedly. _'But...'_

Her cat eyes narrowed as she remembered that approximately thirty feet behind her, another woman from Volnus was following her to act as her mother in the event she might be caught.

_'I'm not going to get caught though, I don't need her to babysit me!' _

The young girl decided to slip into a crowded make-up shop, which was having a sale like most of the other shops in the mall. The woman who was tasked with following Cherry sighed and followed her into the crowd.

In this crowd was Faye Valentine.

Getting shoved every which way trying to bring what she had picked out to the cashier, she was growing more and more irritated.

More people continued to flood the already small shop, leaving very little space to walk. It'd be amazing if anyone was even able to leave the room anymore. Despite this dense crowd, Cherry was still able to move nimbly through.

Natural, for a professional burglar.

"Hey, watch it buddy!" Faye scolded, even though she didn't know who she was scolding.

Cherry saw this woman, Faye, and snickered. Seeing she was getting aggravated quickly, Cherry's mischievous nature couldn't resist. She purposefully bumped into a man next to her with a good deal of force, pushing him, in turn, into Faye.

This caused Faye to drop one of the items she was trying to drag up to the cashier.

Lipstick.

Cherry grinned slyly and reached down to grab it, stuffing it in her pocket, and making her way out of the crowd.

Just a little fun on the side was all she thought it was. As she left the shop, she strolled away snickering to herself. Little did she know...

"That brat!"

She was dealing with a bounty hunter. Faye pushed and shoved people out of her way, coincidentally the person who was following Cherry as well, and made her way to the exit. After fumbling out of the crowd, she looked left and right, eventually spotting Cherry striding through the mall like she was queen of the world. Faye made a dash towards the young girl who had just pocketed the lipstick. Right behind her came the woman following Cherry around.

"This isn't good." she muttered to herself as she trailed behind Faye by about ten feet.

Cherry was unaware that she had been spotted and was continuing to casually stroll through the mall. In a few moments, someone had grabbed her arm.

Her immediate thought was that it was a cop and her little heart nearly stopped. After turning to see it was just the woman from the make-up shop, she let out a sigh of relief.

"It's just you..." she whispered, though Faye heard her.

"Yeah, just me! Why don't you give me what you took back there."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Cherry blatantly lied, turning her head away and puffing out her cheeks.

Just then, a third voice chimed in, "Is something the matter, Ma'am?"

It was the woman following Cherry. Cherry grimaced at the thought that this situation was enough to warrant "back-up" but quickly swallowed her pride.

"Mommy!" she called out to the woman.

"Mommy?" Faye parroted.

"Yes, this is my daughter, Sherry."

Cherry felt another grimace coming on.

"That so... Well, your daughter was being a pick-pocket, and I'd like what she stole back."

The woman looked sternly at Cherry. "Sherry," she pretended to scold, "You know you shouldn't steal things. Give this lady her stuff back."

Cherry puffed out her cheeks again as she pulled the lipstick from her pocket and held it out towards Faye. Faye snatched it and placed it with everything else she was going to buy.

"Ah, I don't think I caught your name." she said to the woman claiming to be Cherry's mother.

"Oh? My apologies. I'm Fujiko. Fujiko Mine."

_'Using your real name at a time like this...' _Cherry thought to herself, _'What an idiotic woman.'_

"Fujiko, huh? I'm Faye." As she said this, she looked back at the stuff she had in her hands. "Ah, I have to go pay for this!"

As she stormed off in the opposite direction, Fujiko and Cherry let out a small sigh of relief. Until, in the distance, as Faye stormed, they heard her.

"Spike better have another bounty on his hands by the time I get back."

Fujiko smacked Cherry on the top of the head. "See, you got yourself caught by a bounty hunter. You can't get cocky like that, so just stick to the plan!"

"You gave your real name to a bounty hunter, you know. What if she finds out we're a part of Volnus?"

"That, at least, is impossible." Fujiko looked back at the bounty hunter as she re-entered the awfully crowded make-up store. "Let's return to the recon, shall we?"

Before Cherry could answer, another issue presented itself.

"Excuse me ladies," a gentle voice reached their ears, "Did I happen to hear that you were a part of Volnus?"

The girls were facing away from the owner of the voice. Before turning on her heel, Fujiko put on a smile. "Volnus? You mean that gang of criminals making a fuss lately? Surely you must be mistaken, you think delicate little ladies like us could – ?"

"Cut the crap, Fujiko Mine." the voice switched from gentle to rough like it was nothing. "I want you to take me to the leader of Volnus. I'd like to have a word with that bastard."

"..." Fujiko and Cherry were both silent.

How could they so carelessly screw this up?

But Cherry was sure there was no one within ear shot of their conversation at the time. It was almost as if this mysterious person came out of thin air.

"You'll refer to me as Mars. Now, I'll say it one more time," a large grin spread across the mysterious person's face, "Take me to the leader of Volnus."

Cherry put her hands behind her back, trying to act scared. In reality, she was fiddling with a belt under her shirt to grab the smoke bomb. As soon as she had it in her grip, she tapped Fujiko's arm.

Mars, the mysterious person, watched them closely. This person knew what they were planning, but allowed them to follow through nonetheless.

Fujiko and Cherry jumped backwards as Cherry let the smoke bomb go. As the area filled with a thick fog, allowing the two to escape, the mysterious person shifted their voice from rough to that of an old woman.

"Help!" this person screamed, "It's Volnus! Help!"

Volnus.

That name was undoubtedly going to grab the entire mall's attention. Cops were quick to respond to the name at least. In a panic, Cherry pulled out one of the explosive as she was running alongside Fujiko. She threw it behind her, and within seconds, a circle of fire engulfed a small area, at least enough to divert attention away from themselves and stop anyone who might be pursuing.

Already past the wall of fire, though not pursuing anyone in particular, was Faye Valentine.

"So Volnus is somewhere in this mall. No doubt now, huh? Maybe I should tell Spike..." Faye pondered on this for a moment. "Nah. I'll catch 'em myself."

Fleeing the scene was Mars. This person had no interest in chasing down Volnus. They knew they would run into the group again in due time. So for now, they simply walked away.

Inside the food court of the mall, a floor under where the explosion had just occurred, people were in a panic. The only ones not panicking were three men at one table. One was carrying a pistol and wearing all black. One was looking at the ceiling with a goofy grin and wearing a green jacket. And the last one was dressed like a samurai.

"What do you think is going on up there?" the one in the green jacket asked. The man wearing black took a bit out of a burger, while the samurai remained silent. "Hm? Oh, come on. Let's go see what's going on."

–

Earlier.

"Sir, there's a phone call."

"Tracey, when is there ever not a phone call? I'll take it." a gruff old man picked up the phone on his desk.

"If this is about Alex Roller, he's in our custody. Nothing to worry about. What? Ah, the manager of the place, huh? Well we sent over the representative for your insurance, they did get there right? Yeah. Yeah? Vash the Stampede? You don't say! Well, well, well. We'll inform the officers in the surrounding area, don't you worry!"

Slamming the phone back on its receiver, the man swore under his breath.

"A lot is going on Tracey. A lot. Bring me a beer, will ya'?"

"Right away, Sir."

"They're all becoming pretty focused on one area. I wonder if Volnus is actually planning to strike soon."

–

Stuck in traffic.

"Apparently there was an explosion and a report about that group just down there in the mall, so the flying area is getting backed up around here while they make sure no more members of Volnus is flying around." QT explained to Dandy, who moaned in boredom and irritation.

"Just freakin' great. The thing we were looking for is literally right under our noses and we can't go grab it."

"There's no guarantee that it is that group, though?"

"It's gotta be!"

–

On the first floor of the mall, there were panicked screams and officers reminding patrons to remain calm. An explosion had just gone off on the third floor, but there was no sign that it was blatant terrorism, and nearly twenty minutes had passed with no more activity. The officers were starting to assume whoever set off the explosion had already left, but the shoppers refused to calm down.

In the middle of this panicked crowd was a man dressed as a cowboy, sitting upon a horse. Tipping his cowboy hat, he looked upon the people running around him.

"This looks like a job that requires justice. Well, I'll handle it, none of you pretty people have to worry!" the man boasted confidently. Though no one was paying attention in the slightest.

One would think the horse would warrant attention.

As this man continued to scan through the crowd for any suspicious figures, an elevator opened up nearby, and out came pouring more panicked people from higher floors. Hiding amongst them were Fujiko and Cherry.

"What a mess," Fujiko complained to herself, not even bothering to stay quiet since no one would hear anyway. "I hope you're prepared to get a scolding from the boss."

The thought of the boss scolding her nearly brought Cherry to tears. She greatly admired the boss and wanted nothing but his praise. At first she was content with completely blaming herself, but then she remembered Fujiko giving her real name to the bounty hunter.

"You prepare for a scolding too!" she whined childishly.

The elevator they had left from opened again, allowing more people from the higher floors to evacuate. Among this group was Faye. She quickly closed the distance between her and the Volnus girls without realizing it. And once right beside them...

"Oh, it's you two!"

The two girls froze. They still weren't sure if this woman had noticed their true identity yet.

"This is crazy, right? Any idea what the hell just happened?"

Cherry sighed in relief as Fujiko hurriedly tried to think of something to say.

"No, all I heard was an old woman scream Volnus, and then that explosion. It's scary, really!"

Fujiko nudged Cherry, and Cherry reluctantly hid behind Fujiko to play the part of the frightened daughter.

"This city has always been such a safe environment, too." Fujiko added.

"Well, you don't mind if I follow you guys out, right? We should stick together, don't you think?"

It wasn't that Faye couldn't handle anything that might come her way alone, and it wasn't that she knew who these two were either.

There were two reasons for her saying what she did. One was that these two might genuinely need help. Two was simply a hunch.

Her woman's intuition said these two were suspicious.

On the third floor, many if not most of the shoppers had already flown down flights of stairs or packed themselves like sardines in the elevators. Few remained on the third floor unless they were trapped or helping others evacuate.

Though, three individuals were neither of these. In fact, they had come from the floor below just to see what all the commotion was.

"Hey, Lupin, should we really be hanging around this sight? Some people are staying it's the work of that Volnus, and I'm sure we look suspicious standing around here." a man wearing black said to a man in a green jacket.

The man named Lupin looked over the scene intently.

"Alright, boys," he said, "Let's head to the first floor then."

–

"Busy day, is it not, Sir?"

The gruff man downed his fifth glass of beer after getting a report about Volnus from the officers on duty at the mall.

"Busiest yet. Let's hope it's worth it."

"It should make for an interesting story when it's all said and done, Sir."

The man laughed, "There's no doubt these events will be..."

"The story of the century!"


	8. The Monster Laughs and Carries On

**Chapter 3 – The Monster Laughs and Carries on His Mission**

Before the events that transpired in the shopping mall, in a nearby Boobies, Spike Spiegel was sitting quietly at a table. A waitress had already asked for his order, but he told her he was waiting for someone.

The atmosphere was tense.

There weren't many customers today, and the waitresses seemed somewhat nervous when walking out to a table.

This could be attributed to Volnus' recent actions. The group of thieves were making hits more and more frequently, and as if that wasn't enough a bunch of fakers were stirring things up where they weren't. More officials were involved in trying to break this case than you could imagine. And even though they've begun to narrow down Volnus' possible location, sometimes the group throws them for a loop.

As a result of all the chaos, there is a certain area of the galaxy where everyone is paranoid about when Volnus might strike next.

Spike glanced around the restaurant. Seeing no one particularly suspicious, he let out a sigh. "I wonder why they're even targeting places like this." he muttered to himself.

It was certainly a mystery to everyone why such a sophisticated group of thieves would enjoy picking on an establishment such as Boobies the most.

A few tables away from him, an odd couple were chatting with excitement. A man dressed in an outfit that made him look like Sherlock Holmes, accompanied by a woman wearing an elegant white dress.

"Wow, do you think those Volnus guys will show up here?" the woman asked loudly. The man smiled and nodded as if he had infinite wisdom.

"But of course! Why wouldn't they? I'm sure we'll be able to catch those thugs today." he said.

Everyone in the building could probably hear them, but no one paid them any mind. The man was apparently boasting about how he would find Volnus and capture them.

Though, it is questionable how one man thought he could do what an entire sector of official forces couldn't.

"Should have figured other bounty hunters would be on the hunt for those

guys." Spike said.

"So if we actually run into Volnus, what are you going to do?" the woman questioned the man with a somewhat worried tone.

The carefree man spoke with bravado, "I'll beat them up of course! And then we can bring them in for the prize!"

"Incredible!"

"Unless, of course, they're stronger than I am. In which case we'll have to think of a very elaborate trap."

The woman nodded, understanding and accepting anything that came out of the man's mouth.

Spike was trying to ignore this couple's loud conversation, so he closed his eyes and sipped his drink. It wasn't even a few moments later that the man was holding a magnifying glass to Spike's face.

"..."

The man dressed as an old-fashioned TV detective looked through the magnifying glass with great intensity. "You seem somewhat suspicious, friend." the man exclaimed.

Spike smirked and moved his face away from the magnifying glass. "Just your humble bounty hunter, Sir. Nothing to see here."

"That so? Then you must be hunting down Volnus as well!"

"Hey, not so loud." Spike scolded the man.

–

In the kitchen, several cooks had stopped working and waitresses were standing around, all wearing nervous faces.

The manager had received a mysterious letter. No one was sure how it was delivered, or by whom. The manager swallowed hard as he unfolded the letter to read it. A bead of sweat rolled down his brow, and the middle-aged man opened his mouth to read the letter.

"Attention all employees. This is a member of Volnus. I command you to evacuate your building within the next ten minutes. If you do not comply... we'll... blow you to smithereens..."

The tension in the air rose at an incredible rate. The words the manager read were hard to swallow, and the employees were scared stiff. In less than a minute, however, they were thrown into a panicked frenzy. The gravity of the words had finally set in. Everyone rushed to evacuate their patrons.

Volnus' plan was being set into motion, like the tipping of dominoes.

–

"Spike Spiegel, huh? Nice to meet you! I'm Isaac Dian." the strange man introduced himself, sitting across from Spike.

The woman next to him chimed in without missing a beat, "And I'm Miria Harvent!"

"You see, the two of us have been following a path of justice for quite a long time, and our next good deed was capturing these Volnus guys that were making everyone worry so much!"

"Quite a long time" was an understatement. Though, somehow, the two strange people sitting across from Spike failed to realize it themselves, they had been following this "path of justice" for nearly two-hundred years.

"We're not quite bounty hunters..." Miria said.

"But that won't stop us from completing this good deed!" Isaac finished.

Spike was astonished by the innocence these two showed. Silently, he listened to the couple exchange a few more words, so casually. It almost seemed like they had completely forgotten what they were even doing.

"Everyone!" a voice screamed. A waitress came flying out of the kitchen and nearly tumbled over the counter. "E-excuse me, this is an emergency!" Everyone in the area was silenced by the panicked shouting of the young woman.

"U-u-ummm, you see, Volnus has demanded that we evacuate! If you don't, they'll b-bomb the place! Please, if you'll leave orderly but quickly!"

Murmuring among the patrons began. No one ignored the shaky voice of the waitress, however. Rather, everyone started to make their way out of the building. Few were as frightened as the poor girl.

The building was emptying itself. The waitresses, cooks, most of the patrons. Even people in the parts of the building that didn't really relate to Boobies were evacuating for fear of a bombing.

When all was said and done, five people remained in one area of the building.

"Shouldn't you two be leaving now. You can leave Volnus to me." Spike casually spoke to Isaac and Miria. The two shook their heads.

"Capturing Volnus will be our good deed! We an help you, too."

"We're pretty incredible, you know!"

The manager of the building came out of the kitchen, throwing down his hat on the counter and quickly trying to take his leave. On the way out the door, he noticed the three customers still sitting at a table and chatting idly. So he rushed over.

"E-excuse me, you three should really get going!"

Spike stood from his seat and walked across the room to another table.

"Sir, you need to leave! Now! Before –!"

The manager couldn't finish his sentence. Nearly losing his balance, he started to scream and run out, leaving the last of the customers behind. At the table where Spike was now standing was a very large man. Looking like he could easily lift three cars in one hand, the man towered high over Spike, even while sitting casually at the table.

"So you must be a Volnus member. Am I right?" Spike asked. The large man looked down on the bounty hunter and laughed.

"Indeed, I am. And now that you've seen my face, I can't let you go."

"That's okay. I had no plans of leaving the bounty behind."

"Ha! You think you can take me on, little man? I'd like to see you try! But... I'd rather sit still for now. At least wait for our departure."

Isaac and Miria had crept up on the side of the man opposite from Spike. Leaning in to hear the conversation, they became baffled by the word 'departure'.

"Where is he going?" Isaac whispered.

"Maybe his buddies are coming to pick him up." Miria responded.

"Hm, maybe. But Miria, how are they going to find him if he stays in here?"

The large man laughed once more. "You two are really funny, you know that! Listen, I like you guys, so I'll let you in on a little secret. Since I know you won't make it out of here with you lives, I'll tell you my name. My name is Behemoth. Or at least that's what my friends call me. I don't even remember my original name."

"You don't remember your original name?" Isaac parroted.

"That must be sad..." Miria followed.

"Nah, it's fine. Behemoth suits me, doesn't it?" the large man questioned as he stood from his seat. The only words one could find to describe such a person was a "monster" and even that didn't seem to do him justice.

Soon, however, another monster would be entering the scene.

"Well, no offense, Mister Behemoth. But we'll have to beat you up now." Isaac spoke nonchalantly. Miria nodded. Behemoth simply laughed.

"You little runts couldn't take me on in a million years!"

"Even so, we must never give up!"

"We'll be heroes of justice!"

Behemoth's laughing ceased. "You two are nuts. Have it you way then!" Behemoth curled his thick fingers into a fist. He brought the monstrous fist over his head and prepared to swing it down on the odd duo. Spike simply sat back and watched as Behemoth swung down with all his strength. Isaac and Miria dodged the fist, but it still managed to scrape them up with back draft alone. Isaac's hat went flying off behind him.

"Is he stronger than you, Isaac?"

"Hm... I'd say so..."

"So we'll have to set up a trap!"

"Yes, but we'll need some time. I never really thought this through..."

Behemoth's punch left a crater where the odd duo stood mere seconds before. He let out a huge, bellowing laugh. "Now you two know now to challenge me so recklessly! None of you are gonna live in the end, anyway, but might as well enjoy your last moments, right? Besides..." a smile spread across the monster's face, "The show is only just about to begin!"

After Behemoth said these words, the entire building began to rattle. A small tremor spread throughout, and then the building returned to a still state. But something felt off.

Spike walked over to the windows curiously.

"Hey... what exactly did you just do?" he asked Behemoth.

"The greatest heist of the century. We're stealing the entire building!" Behemoth let out another bellowing laugh. Isaac and Miria followed Spike over to the window and looked out in awe.

"Like that time we tried to steal the museum!" Miria commented.

"We couldn't pull that off, though. These Volnus guys are really amazing."

The three simply watched the scenery from outside pass by.

–

"First a bombing at a mall, and then the bastards steal an entire building?" a man shouted angrily at his assistant, "Tell me this is some sort of joke, Tracey! That's freaking insane!"

"Well, Sir, you are the one who said stranger things have happened."

"I did! But hot damn, I wasn't expecting this. I need a smoke..." he said, pulling a cigarette from his desk drawer.

"That's the fifth one in the past two hours, Sir."

"Ha! It's been one helluva day."

–

"Dandy, look!" QT exclaimed, pointing out a window at the Boobies, being carried away by a large ship.

"Whoa, what the hell's goin' on up there?"

"I wonder if it's the work of those Volnus guys."

"Could be. Hey, QT, get out of this traffic and just follow them. With any luck, they'll lead us right to a rare alien specimen!"


End file.
